Biochemist helped players 'avoid long-term damage'

A sports biochemist and former bodybuilder has told ABC's Four Corners program that he has helped NRL and AFL players to "safely use" performance-enhancing drugs.

But he said Essendon coach James Hird, who has faced calls to stand down after being implicated in the ongoing doping scandal at the club, would "never go near" banned substances.

The new revelations shed more light on the extent of alleged drug use which has rocked the Australian sporting landscape since last February.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is investigating 31 NRL players and the Essendon and Melbourne AFL clubs into allegations of potential abuse of anti-drug codes through the use of supplements including peptides.

Shane Charter is a sports biochemist who has claimed that underworld figures tried to get him to spike players' supplements with cocaine to provide an opportunity for blackmail.

He told Four Corners on Monday night that he has helped Australian sportspeople take performance-enhancing drugs and avoid detection.

"There's a difference between being shown positive and using performance enhancing drugs, and that's the issue I'm trying to bring to light," he said.

When asked to clarify that he had in fact assisted NRL and AFL players with their use of performance enhancing drugs, he replied: "I've kept them in a safe and non-toxic range so that they didn't do long-term damage to themselves."

Former Melbourne Demons star Shane Woewodin, whose autographed photo hangs in Charter's personal gym, thanked the biochemist and former bodybuilder for his help when he accepted the Brownlow Medal in 2000.

A signed photo of Bombers coach Hird, who was interviewed by ASADA last week over rumours of his own performance-enhancing drug usage, also takes pride of place on Charter's gym wall.

He is anti-anything that affects the player, the credibility of the the industry. Certainly James Hird would never go near that.

sports biochemist Shane Charter

But Charter was quick to dispel any notion that the Essendon player-cum-coach had anything to do with doping.

"He is the opposite, he is anti-anything that affects the player, the credibility of the the industry.

"Certainly James Hird would never go near that."

Four Corners also said it had records of a 2012 conversation between a compounding pharmacist and officials from a club other than Essendon and Melbourne that implied players using human growth hormones would not be picked up by drug testing.

Confusion abounds

The Bombers are under scrutiny for the supplements program they used during the 2012 season, administered by sports scientist Stephen Dank.

The ABC's 7.30 program exclusively revealed that in the lead-up to and during the 2012 season, Hird and Dank worked hand-in-hand on the supplements regime, in which players were administered a range of substances including some that were injected intravenously.

The ABC also obtained records that show Hird and Dank repeatedly discussed details of the substances, the timetable for them to be administered and the players to whom they were given.

One of the text messages from Dank to Hird mentioned thymosin, a substance which is thought to aid the repair of damaged tissue and which was mentioned in the Australian Crime Commission report into organised crime and drugs in sport.

Last year some Essendon players were asked to sign consent forms which stated the drugs injected were within the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) code.

Thymosin is banned on one page of the WADA code but on another it is acceptable, depending on the form in which it is used.

Charter said this confusion created a grey area for players, club doctors and anti-doping legislators alike.

[Players are] always asked to pick up the phone and call ASADA ... to confirm what they're taking before they take it.

former ASADA chief Richard Ings

"It's confusing and that provides opportunity for those who want to take advantage of it," he told Four Corners.

"That would be a good argument to say 'well look, if they're [WADA] contradicting how are we supposed to know?"

But former ASADA chief Richard Ings told the program that ignorance was no excuse.

"These are professional athletes - in many cases they have multi-million-dollar contracts and obligations to their clubs, obligations to their codes, obligations to their fans," he said.

"One of their biggest obligations is to ensure they compete without the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

"They are educated constantly - they're always asked to pick up the phone and call ASADA, to pick up the phone and call their sport, to confirm what they're taking before they take it."